P. T. Usha

P. T.

Usha grew up in a small village in Kerala and ran barefoot along the beaches. She became so fast that people started calling her the Payyoli Express, after her home village.

In 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics, she ran the 400 metres hurdles so brilliantly that she almost won a bronze medal — she missed it by only one hundredth of a second. She kept running and inspired a whole generation of Indian girls to take up sport.

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha was born in 1964 in Kozhikode district, Kerala. She was spotted as a schoolgirl at a state sports meet and trained under the coach O.

M. Nambiar.

She became India's leading track athlete of the 1980s, competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 400m hurdles.

At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in 55.42 seconds, missing bronze by 1/100th of a second — still one of the most iconic moments in Indian athletics. She won 23 medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships over her career.

She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1985. Later she opened the Usha School of Athletics in Kerala to train young sprinters, and became President of the Indian Olympic Association in 2022.